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by hoshi (ladylune)



Series: Sheith Week 2k16 [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Late Night Conversations, M/M, Pre-Canon, Pre-Kerberos Mission, keith pov, of literal and metaphorical homes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 13:04:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7893727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladylune/pseuds/hoshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sharp breeze whooshed by then, but instead of cowering away at the cold, Keith breathed it in and let himself remember a time when the scars on his body were from petty fights and his heart belonged to no one but him. It had been simple back then, his anger and everyone’s reactions to his overwhelming feelings.</p>
<p>Then, of course, Shiro came into his life.</p>
<p>for #SheithWeek Day 7: Memories</p>
            </blockquote>





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**Author's Note:**

> i'm late *softly meeps* bUT IM ALSO DONE HOLY SHIT! AN ENTIRE WEEK OF WRITING AND IM DONE IM FREE ;;;;A;;;;  
> anyways *lays this fic out for you* please enjoy the thing, i wrote half of it hunched over with my mom hovering in the background and happy kpop blasting in the background and i'm just. gonna sleep now goodnight.
> 
> **Warning(s):** emo feels (or an attempt at it), characters trying to be subtle and failing, happy pre kerb shiro to make you all sadder bc post kerb shiro is an emo bb with good reason, UN-BETA'D  
>  **Disclaimer:** i don't own V:LD

—X—

 

 

The soft purr of the hovercraft died when Shiro landed the vehicle in front a house in the middle of nowhere. Keith didn’t need urging to slide off the vehicle, shivering moments later when the full blast of the winter desert wind hit him right in the face.

“I told you to wear a thicker jacket,” Shiro scolded as he pushed his goggles up.

Keith ignored him as he stared at the small house, dark and seemingly abandoned. He jogged to the front and paused before he placed a hand on one of the wooden pillars that held up the porch.

He turned back to Shiro who was leaning against the red hovercraft, a small smile on his face. Their eyes met and he tilted his head slightly to the side, giving Keith permission to ask whatever was on his mind.

“This is it?” He blurted out, “This is the house you bought?”

There must’ve been something in his tone that set Shiro off because one second he was looking decidedly proud and in another, he was blushing and bringing a hand up to scratch at his nape. “I know that it doesn’t look like much—“

“I’m pretty sure some of this wood is rotten.”

“—and it’s in the middle of nowhere—“

“I thought you were bringing me out here to kill me for the longest second.”

“—bUT!” He yelled, face fully flushed now and decidedly frustrated as well, “I—I had thought that when I come back, we can fix it up… together.” He practically whispered the last word, but Keith had always had excellent hearing.

He looked away, his own cheeks blushing a furious red.

The desert wind rushed past them, forcing Keith to remember that he really _was_ underdressed for this whole trip. But before his body could finish its shiver, a heavy jacket was draped over his shoulders.

He looked up with an immediate glare, “Shiro.”

“You’re going to get sick,” the taller man huffed.

“And so are you if you don’t take your jacket back,” Keith returned with a glare.

Shiro grinned at that, cocky in a way that he would never be at the Garrison. “But babe, don’t you see all these muscles?” He flexed obnoxiously until Keith had to look away and stifle his laugh with his hand. A full second later and Shiro was joining him, his laugh as free and bright as the first day Keith had heard it.

“You’re ridiculous,” Keith commented with a snort.

Shiro just smiled down at him, “But I got you to smile, didn’t I?”

Keith’s blush was immediate and so was the hard shove he dished out in his embarrassment. The fact that Shiro had barely moved and had just started laughing harder was just an insult to Keith and everything he stood for.

He huffed a second later, crossing his arms, “If you’re just going to stand there and laugh at me, I’m walking back.”

Shiro turned, “Wait—no,” he pleaded in between laughing.

Keith glared and Shiro straightened at the sight, clearing his throat. “You haven’t seen the inside yet!”

He bounded off then and Keith could practically see a tail wagging happily behind him as he went, “I swear,” he said, “the inside is— _CRACK_

There was abrupt silence as Keith blankly stared.

Shiro just stood there at the door with a nervous smile, completely ignoring the fact that his foot had just punched through the floorboards.

Slowly, Keith raised a hand to hide his smirk, “If it’s anything like the outside…”

“It’s not! It’s not!” He frantically reassured, hands already fumbling with the keys to open the place up. When he finally managed to open the doors and turn on the light, Keith only had a second’s worth of hesitating before he slowly stepped onto the porch.

He glanced at the doorway—now pouring bright, warm light out into the barren desert—then turned to Shiro who was smiling that soft smile that made Keith’s stomach clench and flutter. Wrenching his eyes away, he took a deep breath and stepped inside.

 

.

 

“It looks so much better in here now,” Shiro commented as he sat down next to Keith on the tarp-covered floor.

Keith eyed the deep maroon color that Shiro had picked, before turning to the man himself with a small frown. “Are you sure you didn’t mean to buy gray or something?”

Shiro sighed, “This again.”

Keith puffed out one cheek, “Yes, this again. I just find it really convenient that you would paint the room that’s going to be _your_ bedroom, red!”

Shiro looked away, “I like red…” he mumbled, “and I know you like this color too…”

Keith rolled his eyes, “Shiro, what I like or don’t like doesn’t matter since this _isn’t_ my freaking house.”

“But you _do_ like it, right?” He asked, gaze suddenly intense and serious on Keith’s face.

Keith blushed, “I-It—“

Shiro leaned closer, stars in his eyes.

Keith looked away, cheeks turning as red as the walls as he huffed. “Of course I like it, it’s my favorite color,” he blurted out—so quick that it took a second for Shiro to decipher what he was even saying.

When he figured it out however, the smile that tugged at his lips was practically blinding. “Good!” He exclaimed, “and here, hold out your hand, I have something for you.”

Keith, despite his embarrassment, was always a curious soul at heart—but despite trusting Shiro with possibly everything that he had, he couldn’t help but squint suspiciously at the look on the man’s face.

“Come on,” he huffed when Keith continued to merely sit and squint at him, “I promise it’s a good thing.”

Keith gave him a look but obligingly held out his hand anyway, the surprise of something metal glinting in the light catching his eye before his hands closed around what he instinctively knew was a key. He stared at it just in case he was going insane, before he looked back up at Shiro who had gone red and was refusing to look at him.

“It’s for the house,” he said softly, “you know, just in case you needed somewhere to escape to while I’m gone.”

Keith’s heart clenched painfully at the mention of his friend’s upcoming departure into space, but he pushed it away to stare at the key instead. “Shiro…” he murmured after a while, “why did you paint the bedroom red.”

Shiro sighed heavily, and when he turned to Keith, the smile on his face was the softest that Keith had ever seen it. “Because,” he murmured, as gentle as a passing breeze, “it’s your favorite color, right?”

 

.

 

Weeks later, Keith sat on the roof of the small desert house and watched as Shiro’s space ship broke through Earth’s atmosphere, the key clenched tightly in one hand while his heart throbbed underneath the other.

 

.

 

Months later and the words ‘Pilot Error’ scrolled through every news channel on the Garrison.

Days later and Keith found himself landing Shiro’s hovercraft—another gift on the long list of things that Shiro had given him— in front of the house, knuckles wrapped and bloody, and everything he owned packed up and tied down to the vehicle.

The house itself stood there, empty and dusty, missing the warmth that Keith remembered without Shiro standing on the porch to greet him.

He managed to get to the door before he looked down, saw the different shades of wood from the patch up job that Shiro had done, and fell.

Fingers traced the places where the jagged ends of old wood met it’s lighter counterparts while his mind fed him memories of Shiro sitting in the exact same spot, gray eyes bright as he grinned proudly up at Keith.

_“I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself!_ ”

Keith only had to strength to hug his knees to himself as he finally gave in to his broken heart.

 

.

 

Keith spent the next few days, weeks, and months torn between following his instincts out into the desert and staying home to let his memories of Shiro’s smile and laughter and—

 

.

 

_Nearly a year gone_ , Keith thought to himself as he stared up at the night sky.

Tonight he had decided to follow his instincts and camp out—something that he was starting to re-think when he had to wiggle to find a comfortable position for the eighth time in the past ten minutes. When he finally settled, he allowed his thoughts to drift over the plan he had to get into the Garrison. The bombs that he had planted in the far canyon were all set, all he had to do was watch the base for a couple more nights and he should be able to plot out the best time to get the wheels rolling.

While he was trying to imagine his old instructors’ faces, the sky above him burned as something entered Earth’s atmosphere. The Garrison’s alarms went off just as something in Keith started _SCREAMING_ for him to get up and _go_.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cup of tea cradled in his hands had long gone cold, but Keith continued to nurse it as he leaned back against the porch pillar and watched the stars above.

He knew that he should’ve probably gone in—especially considering the dull throbbing that had started up behind his kneecaps—but Keith had once upon a time, lived for quiet moments like these and between saving the universe and planning his wedding, he figured that he deserved a little down time.

Behind him, the small desert house was quiet and still. The lights were all off, but with the clear night sky above him, Keith didn’t need light to see. A sharp breeze whooshed by then, but instead of cowering away at the cold, Keith breathed it in and let himself remember a time when the scars on his body were from petty fights and his heart belonged to no one but him. It had been simple back then, his anger and everyone’s reactions to his overwhelming feelings.

Then, of course, Shiro came into his life.

He could still recall _that_ certain memory as if it happened yesterday, but the memories after—of fights and arguments that dwindled down to mutual respect and fond looks—those blurred together in a mish-mash of everyday moments.

Some things however, would never fade into the background.

He ran a rough thumb over the key that he had hanging on a delicate chain above his heart as the front door creaked open behind him. The _creak-creak-creak_ of heavy footsteps over old floorboard was as familiar as the crisp night air, and the heavy blanket that was draped on his shoulders a moment later only made him smile.

“After all these years, and you still haven’t learned,” Came Shiro’s voice, lower and rougher—a byproduct of sleep that never failed in making Keith shiver.

He tilted his head up and met his fiancé’s gray eyes, “Maybe I was just waiting for you to come out here and warm me up.”

His Shiro from before would’ve laughed out loud and flirted back until Keith was a blushy mess in his hands, but now, all Shiro did was huff amusedly, his mouth turning up at the corners as he sat himself down.

Keith moved to drape the blanket over Shiro as well, leaning close and refusing to move until Shiro brought up well-muscled arms to pull him in closer. He rested his chin on top of Keith’s head, the sleepy rumble that escaped him telling Keith just how close he was to falling asleep again.

“What were you doing out here?” He murmured after a long stretch of comfortable silence.

Keith pressed his smile to Shiro’s collarbone as he closed his eyes, “Just reminiscing.”

Shiro hummed, “On good things, I hope?”

“If you call a hole in the porch floor good,” Keith smirked, “then sure.”

Shiro just groaned in reply.

His amusement at the gentle ribbing faded like morning dew as his mind kept running, feeding him one memory after another. The first time they had battled for hours back to back with no other help in sight… the first time they had sparred since Shiro had crash-landed on Earth…

The first time Keith woke up to Shiro’s sleepy smile—both of them bathed in the hazy light of a new day.

“Shiro?”

“Hmm?”

Keith pulled away from him, letting their eyes catch as he smiled. “Welcome home,” he breathed, the words forming a visible puff in the cold desert air.

Shiro stared at him with something like understanding in his molten mercury eyes—then he smiled, soft and sure. “I’m home.”

 

 

—X—

**Author's Note:**

> i think this is the first time i wrote pre-kerb sheith *stares up into space* ...huh  
> ah well, i hoped i popped that cherry _reeeeal_ good. if not........ orz t-that's ok too *sings 'Here Comes A Thought' to myself thru my tears*
> 
> kudos are love and comments will be appreciated with so many happy tears :'D  
> come say hi on **[twitter](https://twitter.com/hoshiwrites)** | **[tumblr](http://hoshiwrites.tumblr.com/)**  
>  && thanks for reading~


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